As it is generally known, it is often desirable for computer and information system users to know about new or changed information that may be relevant to them. Several types of existing systems have been developed to address this need. Some implementations of “team” oriented software, sometimes referred to as “groupware”, allow users to share information and discuss topics. For example, IBM Lotus Notes® provides teamrooms, Quickplaces and other server side databases. IBM Lotus Workplace® also includes document libraries and discussions in Workplace Teamspaces. Additionally, over the Internet there are discussion forums and other constructs that may be used to share information among groups of users.
However, these types of existing systems have significant shortcomings. Since many users spend most of their time in their electronic mail (“email”) application, they may not see changes in shared repositories, or don't see such changes until it is too late for them to take an appropriate action in response to them. For example, when users add new documents to a shared repository, other repository users may not see the new documents until it is too late, and only if/when they go to the shared repository to check for updates.
Other existing systems have used an approach to change notification based on subscriptions. Subscriptions enable users to be notified when something changes in a shared repository. One example of such an existing system is IBM Lotus Notes®, which allows users to manually add subscriptions for teamrooms, in order to receive certain change notifications.
However, there are significant problems with regard to existing subscription based solutions as well. For example, while subscriptions may be available for teamroom members or participants, users are often not aware of this feature. Additionally, existing subscription-based systems only allow subscribing to everything that is new in the shared repository, and don't provide filtering to determine the important changes for a specific user. As a result, users' notification systems, such as email inboxes, may become flooded with notifications, many of which are not interesting to the user that receives them. It is therefore difficult and time consuming for users to maintain their awareness of relevant changes in shared repositories.
For the above reasons and others, it would be desirable to have a new system for informing users regarding changes in shared repositories. The new system should not require users to expressly check the shared repositories for changes, or rely on manual subscription approaches that users may not be aware of, or provide unfiltered change notifications.